NZ back into lockdown.

[Malin52]

1 case in the community. All of NZ back into lockdown Level 4 because no link to border found.

Hard and fast.

Not nice, inconvenient. But to be honest would you really prefer the approach taken by Mr Johnson? New Zealand 26 deaths (5 million people) so equivalent for UK would be about 450 deaths. Uk has had about 150k, and more from postponed medical treatment no doubt.

@Waxonwaxoff0

I currently have Covid and I'd rather put up with it than go into lockdown at the drop of a hat.

I'm guessing you are not feeling that terrible then? Or lying in hospital on CPAP? Or facing intubation?

New Zealanders have faced very little lockdown and far less restrictions on daily life than citizens of most countries, neither have they lost many thousands of their population. Personally, I'd give my right tit to have been living there this last 18 months.

I just wish they'd hurry up and vaccinate before the inevitable happens.

How bizarre. Lockdown with only 1 case.

Personally, I am torn between feeling sorry for them, because lockdowns are tough and shitty, and feeling like laughing and pointing my finger (a la Nelson Muntz from the Simpsons...) Because they were so smug about being covid free last year when we were all suffering massively over here, and the prime minister was acting like she was King of the World because HER country was covid free!

Not so smug now eh?

@Remmy123

Lockdown because of one case??? Wow.

Thank god I don't live there. To keep locking down like that isn't sustainable, will they do this forever then?

They don’t “keep” locking down. Most of NZ has spent barely any time in lockdown. You do you and Aus/NZ will do what they feel is right

@AngryWhompingWillow

How bizarre. Lockdown with only 1 case.

Personally, I am torn between feeling sorry for them, because lockdowns are tough and shitty, and feeling like laughing and pointing my finger (a la Nelson Muntz from the Simpsons...) Because they were so smug about being covid free last year when we were all suffering massively over here, and the prime minister was acting like she was King of the World because HER country was covid free!

Not so smug now eh?

Still pretty fucking smug that 100000 people haven’t died I imagine. It’s not bizarre at all. Lockdown with one case and the lockdown lasts a week. Lockdown with 100 cases and it lasts months. A week is fine. It’s really no big deal

@Nesbo

I do think the psychology will be fascinating. As others have said, COVID is here to stay and there will be a point where delta or perhaps some even more transmissible variant will start to spread quickly through the population of NZ - and even with a high vaccination rate that will cause a number of deaths, a number of cases of long COVID and it will be quite upsetting.

I think a lot of New Zealander’s will struggle with that. They have embraced zero COVID as a goal and worked hard to keep it like that. At the point they see community transmissions amongst their friends and neighbours, cases rising and deaths being reported it may well feel like a frightening loss of control, even if the number of deaths is comparatively low.

I think preparing the population for that moment will be very important, and will require careful handling.

Yes, I have thought this for a long time now. From a social point of view, NZ are definitely going to have to get used to the idea that people in their population will die of Covid at some point in the future. They have zero natural immunity in the population and the virus will spread once restrictions are lifted.

Obviously that's a small price to pay for what has, up to now, been a very successful strategy, but that time will come.

@mrbob Why the F would even TRY to compare the death rates between NZ and the UK? They have 12 times LESS population in a country that is 10% larger than us.

ALSO, they are 1000s of miles from any other country.

So your argument holds as much water as a rotten bucket with 1000 holes!

@AngryWhompingWillow
No one was “smug”. 25% of our population was born outside NZ, a great many more are only second or third generation Kiwi, so we watched relatives die overseas and were separated from our parents and our children.

It’s unpleasant to turn a pandemic into a competition when no one is ever going to be a winner.

Like a few others here, I think NZ is a beautiful country to look at and visit, but you couldn't PAY me to live there.

And yeah I am aware that people living there wouldn't want me anyway yada yada....

@GammyLeg Yep, Jacinda was a BIT smug. Don't deny it.

As I said, not so smug now though.

Now THAT is proper leadership.

Maybe if everywhere else did the same then Covid would be all but gone?

But we waited until the deaths started piling up and now there's no way out.

@AngryWhompingWillow

imagining Kiwis as “smug” about millions of deaths says more about you and your lack of empathy than our national psyche.

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot

We've been to slow I think while basking in in our Covid free environment.

From the outside looking in, you've been bonkers. It's really disappointing to watch - a total missed opportunity to vaccinate in advance.

I agree with this.

A lot of people who are hard of thinking keep banging on about how the UK should be more like New Zealand while ignoring the fact that we're joined onto Ireland and 21 miles from France. NZ is 1000 miles from the next nearest big country.

Why they haven't taken the opportunity to roll out a quick vaccination programme is a total mystery. The UK has 60% of people fully vaccinated, another 10% with one vaccination. New Zealand has only 185 fully vaccinated.

The "let's pull up the drawbridge and keep everyone out, forever" mentality is OK in the short term, but in the longer run not allowing any visitors in, or any people in/out to visit family is more than a bit crazy.

Personally, I am torn between feeling sorry for them, because lockdowns are tough and shitty,

What - a three (or seven if in Auckland etc.) day lockdown is "tough and shitty" . You obviously have very little in the way of resilience.

Because they were so smug about being covid free last year when we were all suffering massively over here, and the prime minister was acting like she was King of the World because HER country was covid free!

What a pathetic excuse for a human being you sound.

Every time there is a thread on MN about NZ and its "slow" vaccination rate I post the reason why - and yet here comes the next thread, and I have to post it again. When they ordered vaccines Pfizer said they could provide enough, but the bulk wouldn't be arriving until late July. We are in mid-August now, so how could the whole country possibly be vaccinated months ago as some of you seem to imagine??

@AngryWhompingWillow

You come across as being very unpleasant.

From the outside looking in, you've been bonkers. It's really disappointing to watch
Not from where others are concerned. NZ has to increase vaccinations for sure but they are learning from other countries who failed to lock down and instead allow covid to spread without restrictions.

@TheGenealogist where did you get 185 from?! It’s more like 1m double jabbed.

And no one has said NZ will close its borders forever - borders will open early next year.

New Zealand has only 185 fully vaccinated.

I would love to know where you are getting your information from. There are more than 185 vaccinated in the small town I live in.

“Because they were so smug about being covid free last year when we were all suffering massively over here, and the prime minister was acting like she was King of the World because HER country was covid free“

You sound so spiteful and angry - do you really imagine we all sat rubbing our hands in glee at the horrific scenes in the UK, Italy, and India?

There are some really nasty posts on here which is detracting from interesting posts about managing the situation in the future. Why do posters feel the need to do that? And if you feel JA was smug that's your opinion to which you're entitled but she is not her citizens, anymore than Johnson is us.

I think it will be very difficult to ever accurately compare countries and their covid responses, and it is certainly not possible yet. Geography and culture play a massive role and I can't see how you can control for that.

Like a few others here, I think NZ is a beautiful country to look at and visit, but you couldn't PAY me to live there.

Don't worry dear, no-one is going to even attempt to pay you to live here - and we wouldn't let you in anyway.

Do you think that Covid can be transmitted over a 21 mile distance, @TheGenealogist?

Of course we could have done what NZ did. But Johnson was happy to, in his own words, let the bodies pile up.

they may have only found one case, but there's likely to be many more undiagnosed.

Absolutely batshit crazy locking down like that.

They're just delaying the inevitable. There's no hiding from delta when it gets there.

@newnortherner111

Not nice, inconvenient. But to be honest would you really prefer the approach taken by Mr Johnson? New Zealand 26 deaths (5 million people) so equivalent for UK would be about 450 deaths. Uk has had about 150k, and more from postponed medical treatment no doubt.

NZ is a very different country to the UK. We simply couldn't have closed borders due to the sheer volume of freight transported through the tunnel and channel ferries that we depend on. NZ doesn't have the same freight - they don't depend on hundreds of small vans/lorries every day.